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Sunday, April 17, 2011

Today I have the pleasure of welcoming Rebecca Ryals Russell to my blog. Rebecca is the author of the book Odessa: Seraphym Wars. She is here to day to tell us what she wants us to know about her new series. (BTW: I absolutely adore this cover art!)

Top ten things I want readers to know about the Seraphym Wars Series

Incidents of violence appearing in dreams/visions or seen while traveling were ALL taken from actual news accounts. I couldn’t even make up stuff like these.

Place names were determined using Latin bases. For example, anything containing volcanoes has ‘Cauld’ in the name; or green areas contain ‘verde’.

Character names were determined based on personality, role in the story, physical properties. For example, the main character Myrna Ashlin Watts means ‘high-spirited’ + ‘vision(s)’ + ’ruler of army’; Conall Sean Wyman, a demon-warrior, means ‘strong wolf’ + ‘God’s precious gift’ + ‘warrior/fighter’.

Mythology played a huge role in the story through Characters like Griffen Oisin Gilmore and Aurora Neave Hubert who develop a very close relationship. In Celtic Mythology Oisin and Neave were lovers. I also used many Mythological creatures/monsters, such as: Harpies, Graes, Griffins (I called them Andergryphs), Phoenix and more. My names for Heaven=Asgard and Hell=Tartarus came from Viking Mythology.

My choice to make the demons able to shapeshift into dragons came from Revelations, in the Bible. According to Revelations, when Satan and his followers were tossed from Heaven, it was in dragon form which they had assumed during the battle. Since I enjoy dragons I chose to keep that aspect and work it with the demon nature.

The creation of the Dracwald world maintains geographical logic found on Earth. Effects of geology on climate and establishment of civilizations closely resembles that of Earth as well. This helps the reader understand the nature of the world while introducing alien ideas.

Book 3, Majikals, will introduce a whole new series of civilizations via the Faeries, Elves, Dwarfs and other creatures found on Caldelub, the island where the Vigorios receive training. These Majikals will introduce the Vigorios to Celtic Druidic lifestyle, with some Wicca thrown in, as they learn to trust in themselves and the Elements.

A spin-off series for Middle Graders called Stardust Warriors reduces the story to smaller novels minus the love story and violence. It brings the epic journey nature of the story out for MG readers to enjoy. The first in this series, Zarena, comes out July 2011.

I’m also working on a series of Picture Books based on the Majikals found on Caldelub.

Lastly, I want readers to sit back and enjoy the ride. With aspects of Lord of the Rings, Mythology, Revelations, dragon lore, creative use of new monsters, a Steampunk civilization, Fairy Tales, Celtic Mythology and more, I hope readers will become immersed in the world I created and fall in love with the characters as they battle for their very survival.

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About Me

I am the Teen Librarian at a public library and have always loved to read. I focus mostly on teen titles, but I do have a few favorite adult authors that I tend to follow. I love to review the books I read and recommend them to others.

Disclosure

I receive no compensation for the reviews on this blog. The opinions expressed here are my personal opinions of the selected works. Most of the books reviewed here are either checked out from my public library, purchased by me, or given to me as gifts from family or friends. If I win a copy for review, or receive a copy for review from a publisher, I will note that on the review.